Cost Consultant

Salary: £40,000 to £65,000 according to level of experience plus 7% pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday.

Location: Portsmouth, Bristol, Chippenham locations / hybrid working (a mix of home working, client sites and the office).

Our client has a significant capability undertaking cost and risk related studies. Staff have developed whole life cost models and generated estimates for air, land, sea, space and joint systems, platforms and infrastructure for the UK MoD, NATO, other defence organisations and industry. These whole life cost estimates have been used to support Investment Appraisals, Combined Operational Effectiveness and successful Business Cases.

As a Cost Engineering Consultant, you will be providing the cost estimates and engineering support to help the UK MOD and industry make better decisions. This may be working autonomously within customer teams to support business cases with analytical thinking and outcomes, estimating of procurement and in-service costs, or leading workshops with customers and Subject Matter Experts to improve accuracy and understanding of project costs.

Responsibilities:

• Delivering technical consulting projects.
• Assisting in identifying and winning work for a new and growing consultancy.
• Building new relationships and maintaining the relationships we have with our current customers.
• Using and developing problem structuring methods and a variety of tools and techniques, including novel approaches where required.
• Support the project teams through review of plans and proposals ensuring value for money and ensuring delivery of plans is as required.
• Working organically in customer teams to deliver rapid turn-around analysis.

Essential Requirements:

• Knowledge of Investment Appraisals, Trade Studies, Business Cases, and Cost Benefit Analysis to support stage gate approvals.
• Good knowledge of statistics in support of parametric modelling, sampling and risk assessment.
• Independent Cost Estimating.
• Experience in methods of estimating including; detailed, comparative and parametric techniques in support of both hardware and software systems acquisitions and through life support.
• Understanding and developing cost estimates that take account of; development, manufacture and support environments; allowances; overheads; profit, Government Furnished Assets & Resources, historical costs, and Estimating Maturity Assessment levels.
• Cost Model Development.
• Development of robust cost models that satisfy independent Verification & Validation scrutiny.
• Cost / Schedule Risk Analysis.
• Knowledge of quantitative assessment of uncertainty, cost and schedule risk assessment.
• Independent Verification and Validation audit against 3rd party supplied cost models.
• Knowledge of Earned Value Management.
• Understand the techniques and formulas used to create EV outputs.
• Have experience in managing data and processing the outcomes to deliver analysis of results.
• Using logical and analytical thinking to solve complex problems for the client.
• Strives to deliver ahead of targets.
• Working in a client’s team to influence strategic decision makers whilst delivering practical solutions.
• Be a trusted individual who can perform when working as part of a team or when acting independently with support from colleagues.
• Be articulate with good presentation and written communication skills.
• Be a member of an appropriate professional body (such as ICEAA, ACostE) and have a desire for further professional development.
• Be dependable, committed and have a genuine enthusiasm to contribute to the growth of a new business.

Preferred Requirements:

• Knowledge of and application of Visual Basic.
• Experience as a cost engineering consultant in DE&S, CAAS, wider MOD or public sector project environment.
• Application of Risk tools such as @Risk.

Other Requirements:

• Candidates must have an existing right to live and work in the UK.
• Candidates will need to undergo an internal BPSS check prior to gaining site access.
• Candidates will also need to either hold a current SC clearance or DV Clearance or be willing and eligible to undergo a Security Clearance check (SC level) upon starting their employment with the company. To gain SC clearance you will normally need at least 5 years’ UK residency.

Our client is a small but rapidly growing consultancy, owned by highly experienced and recognised practitioners in UK Defence consultancy. They are looking for candidates with a mix of technical expertise and interpersonal skills, able to work independently or in small teams. They are looking for candidates who are able to help the company grow and can offer exciting opportunities for those with the drive to develop their own skills and those of the company. They offer competitive salaries and packages, and the opportunity for rapid advancement for the right candidates.